‘Modern Slavery’: Video Of Model Posing As Live Mannequin At Dubai Mall Goes Viral

A clothing brand at a Dubai mall became the talk of the town with their unconventional marketing strategy when a video of a model posing next to mannequins caused a stir online. This unexpected stunt took place at the Manto Bride store in Dubai Festival City Mall. The act gained attention after the model shared the video on social media, quickly going viral and sparking mixed reactions from users.

In the video shared on Instagram by model Angelina, she is seen standing on a platform typically reserved for mannequins. Dressed in the brand’s bodycon short dress and stiletto heels with her hair styled in a sleek ponytail, Angelina periodically changed poses. Her lifelike movements and resemblance to the mannequins caught the attention of passersby. The overlay text read, “pov: marketing in Dubai.”

Angelina’s video garnered significant attention online, racking up over 19,000 views. However, it truly became a viral sensation when it was reshared by popular Instagram handle Lovin Dubai which boasted 1.3 million followers. On this page, the video accumulated over 5.7 lakh views.

The comment section was buzzing with varied reactions where many called the stunt “inhuman” while others found it clever and innovative.

One user remarked, “Someone has a lot of money for marketing,” while another chimed in with, “ Next level marketing is a nice one.”

A dissenting voice wrote, “Very downgrading and tasteless. I’m already feeling embarrassed just looking at this.”

Another commented, “Modern Slavery in my opinion !! They could use something more creative like a hologram with changing clothes on a virtual model instead of this embarrassment.”

A user bluntly stated, “This makes me NOT want to buy anything from that store.”

Another added, “Slavery at its best! Imagine standing there with heels on for long hours!! That’s crazy!”

Someone quipped, “When AI takes over we humans may need to do such things in future to get paid,” while another added, “So Robots are taking away jobs of Humans and Now Humans taking the place of Mannequins.”

Despite criticism, some social media users defended the model’s efforts. One person commented, “A Job is a job! She’s being a model. She’s modeling clothes for people just like Kendall Jenner does. What’s the problem? The store was probably not pulling in customers so maybe the employees were like hey let me go model the clothes to try to pull customers in. What’s the issue? People are always crying babies.”